Wednesday, 29 July 2009

Command and Conquer is a great game that should run really well on the Acer Aspire One, and it's now available as a legal and free download.

It is however quite difficult to install on the Acer Aspire one but it can be done. Here's how I did the install on my AA1 running Windows XP:

1) A little preparation.I'm running a streamlined version of WindowsXP so there were a couple of files that I needed to copy to my machine first.

From another Windows XP PC I copied the following files from the System32 directory into my c:\windows\system32 directory.Required files: autoexec.nt, cmd.exe, command.com, config.nt, dosx.exe

2) Download the game:The full game can be downloaded by clicking here. You will need to join GameSpot but that is free to join.

The download is a zip file which contains 2 iso files. Each ISO file is an image of the a game CD, depending on which campaign you want to play, extract which ISO file you require, or both if you want.

3) Install MagicDiscMagicDisc is an application which emulates a CD\DVD drive and will allow Windows to treat an ISO file like a physical CD.Click here to download MagicDisc, and install it.

4) Set Windows95 Compatibility.For the install files to work on the virtual CD, there is a need to set Windows 98 compatibility modes.MagicDisc should be running in the system try on the bottom right side of the screen, right click on the Magicdisc icon.Choose Virtual CD/DVD-ROM and then choose Mount and select the ISO file on your AA1.The virtual disc will now autorun.Choose the explore the CD option.Right click on Setup.exe and choose properties, then in the compatibility tab tick the top box and then click ok and finally run the setup.exe file.Command and Conquer will now install.5) Apply a patch.Google CCGOLDXPPATCH.ZIP and download the file, extract the thipx32.dll file into your command and conquer directory (normally c:\WESTWOOD\C&C95)

6 ) Preparing to Run the Game

Go to the install directory of the game (normally c:\WESTWOOD\C&C95)

Right click on the C&C95.exe icon. Select PROPERTIES & Select the COMPATIBILITY tab

Check the check box for “Run this program in compatibility mode for” & Select Windows 95 from the drop down menu.

Check the check box for “Disable visual themes”

Check the check box for “Turn off advanced text services for the program”.

Thursday, 16 July 2009

In this post I described how I installed a Mobile Internet Dongle on my Acer Aspire One running Windows XP.Following this post Marlot asked a good question, is it possible to use the dongle on an Acer Aspire One running Linux.

I've currently got Windows XP installed so I'm not in a position to test it, but I've search through the Aspire One User Forums and it looks like it is possible.

Wednesday, 15 July 2009

I've read a lot about mobile Internet recently with network providers offering superb deals for customers so I thought I would go one a go and add the net to my Acer Aspire One Netbook.

Before signing up for a contract it's important that you check which network offers the best coverage where you need to use it. Often your home address isn't where you need to use the dongle as you will have traditional broadband there. So make sure that you do the research first.

I choose the package from 3 as the network offers good, fast coverage and they offer a great deal where you can get 15 GB of bandwidth for only 20 pounds per month.

The dongle it's self is quite nifty it plugs strait into the USB port of the AA1 and sits nice and securely, there is a LED on the Dongle which indicates signal strength and network speed.

The Modem Dongle contains all the drivers and software needed to install the dongle and connect you to the Internet.

When you plug in the Dongle into the AA1 running Windows XP, the 3 Connect software auto runs and all you have to do is to click on connect and you are away.

The modem speed is great for Browsing and can provide access to secure networks however it may be too slow for live video streaming.These dongles are great value and can provide connectivity for when wifi isn't an option.

Monday, 13 July 2009

In this post I described how to install FreeCiv on the Linux version of the AA1.

Now that I've installed Windows XP on my Acer Aspire One I thought I would see how easy it is to Install FreeCiv on the Acer now.

To install FreeCiv on Windows XP:1) Click on This Link2) Save the install file and run it.3) Run through the installer and choose which disc drive to install the application too. ( I installed to my extra memory card so to save space on the main drive)4) Make sure that no other applications are running.5) Launch the application.

It looks to play well on the AA1 and so far so good, it's good to have FreeCiv back and up and running.

Saturday, 11 July 2009

I've just discovered a new way to watch TV and Films on my Acer Aspire One.

FilmOn.com has launched the FilmOn HDi Player, which provides live access to a number of live TV stations including BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Eurosport, Film4 and many more. It also provides access to film channels and also Downloadable film rentals.

The software is really easy to use, and the video quality is suprisingly good on the Acer Aspire One's Screen.

Sunday, 5 July 2009

I've been running Windows XP on my Acer Aspire One for a while now so I though I would post some of my thoughts so far.

Windows XP allows me to access some of my favourite software easily, eg Sling player, Itunes etc. without having to worry about using Wine or emulation.Iplayer runs extremly well on Windows XP on the AA1 better then on Linpus and much better then on Ubuntu and getting ITV player working is easier.

There is one major drawback to using Windows XP on the Acer Aspire One is that Windows doesn't handle writning to the expansion memory card very well and this slows down reading and writing to it, so if like me you intstall applications onto the expansion card they take a while to load, becasue of this issue I am thinking of switching back to Linpus.

Friday, 26 June 2009

Now that I've got Windows installed on my AA1 I thought I would work out which applications I should install.

MusicApplicationsItunesMy favourite Music application. I've been using my IPOD for years and I love it, I have my music stored on a network device so I can use Itunes on my Acer Aspire one without eating into the valuable storage space.

Office ApplicationsOpen OfficeOpen Office is a good free alternative to Microsoft offie with great functionality - a must for all laptop owners.

Multi-Media ApplicationsSling playerVLC Player - VLC player is a great media player which plays just about every video and audio format.

Sunday, 21 June 2009

Now that I'm running Windows XP on my Acer Aspire One, I'm aware that I need to protect my AA1 against Viruses and other Internet threats.

I'm also aware that I need to minimize the overhead on the humble processor in the AA1 so I've found a few useful utilities which seem to do the trick.

Internet Browser: Firefox Version 3

Given the recent security alterts around Internet Explorer I made sure that the browser on my Acer Aspire One was FireFox Version 3. Firefox includes strict anti-phishing and anti-malware measures and has an open source process to include new security updates.

More information on the security facilities in Firefox can be found here.

Firewall: Windows Firewall

What's a firewall? (from Wiki)A firewall is an integrated collection of security measures designed to prevent unauthorized electronic access to a networked computer system. It is also a device or set of devices configured to permit, deny, encrypt, decrypt, or proxy all computer traffic between different security domains based upon a set of rules and other criteria.

Avast! is aimed at preventing several types of computer threats, including those that are not technically computer viruses such as spyware and even rogue anti-spyware, and can also make a virus Recovery DataBase which is used to recover files when they are infected (instead of deleting them). The program is available with text and voice translations for 27 languages.

Script Protection for the Acer Aspire One: NoScript

Many websites contain scripts, often these are harmless and need to be run, but sometimes these scripts are malicious and install malware on your computer. NoScript gives the choice back to you of if you want a site to be able to run scripts or not. No script will be able to run unless you give it permission to do so, this might sound like a pain but you can set NoScript to always allow scripts from your favourite page...so you can forget about it after you have set it once for your page.

Saturday, 20 June 2009

I'm finally installed Windows XP on my Acer Aspire One.It wasn't as easy as I had imagined, I originally had hoped to plug in an external drive using the process described in my post here, and boot from my Windows XP disk. Unfortunately the setup process crashed twice so I searched the internet for a different approach.

Fortunately there is another option.Check out this process here to see how to install Rons TinyXP.There is a guy out there who has created a optimised installation of Windows XP for the Acer Aspire One, and it looks to work really well. The original download link has now expired BUT a quick google search will help you find it.

Monday, 16 March 2009

I'll be traveling over the next few days with work and there is plenty of traveling on the train involved, so I thought I would use my Acer Aspire One to provide some entertainment whilst I'm away.

I've filled 2 usb flash disks with videos and with VLC player they play really well on the Acer, to keep the audio to myself I'll be using the brilliant Panasonic RP-HT225 headphones to listen to the videos.

So along with the free Wi-fi on most trains these days, I should have more then enough to kill some time.